Seat cover stretching and securing device



March 18, 1952 R. Mj-vAN DOREN SEAT covER STRETCHING AND sEcuRING DEVICE Filed Aug. so, 1949 Patented Mar. 18, 1952 SEAT COVER STRETCHING AND SECURING DEVICE Ruth M. Van Doren, Elmhurst, Ill.

Application August 30, 1949Seria1No. 113,155

5 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for stretching and securing covers for the seats of chairs and the like.

As is generally known, many types of chairs, such as dining room chairs, are provided with removable seats which are usually covered by Heretofore, the procedure of changing the seat l covering of such chairs has been a laborious and painstaking one. After the seat is removed from the chair frame, it is necessary to pull out a great number of tacks or nails by which the covering material is secured to the bottcm surface of the seat. Then the new material is stretched over the seat and nailed down in the same manner as was the old.

My invention aims to provide devices by the use of which seat covers may be rapidly and securely held in place by a very simple structure, operated much more quickly and easily than any device heretofore devised for this purpose.

Essentially, my invention contemplates the provision of fabric-stretching and securing devices which may be readily placed in position to stretch the fabric over the seat and securely hold it in place.

The invention also contemplates the provision of such devices in which, by means of springs or ecivalent means. the stretchinfr and seci'ring de- In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a bottom plan view of a chair seat showing the devices of my invention in position;

Fig. 2V is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; y

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of one of securing bars;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan View of one end of one of the spring-securing arms; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of a modification of the mechanism for drawing the bars together. y

Referring now to the drawings, the reference numeral II) indicates the bottom of a-chair seat'. This may be made, as usual, of wood or other'rigid material.

In the usual chair construction, the bottom I0 maybe provided with a layer of suitable padding material (not shown) As is customary in chair seats of this sort, the padding material is covered by a layer of upholstery fabric I I, or similar material, either leather, plastic, or the like. l i

The object of my invention is to provide a device, or devicesby which the covering material II may .be properly stretchedvaround the edges of the seat member I0 and held securely and tautly in place.

My securing device consists of a plurality of bars I2, each of which is provided with fabric penetrating points or teetliI3'.

vices will operate to hold the covering material f stood, it wil be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that structural modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

The bars I2 are preferably made of'metal of relatively light gauge. The `points I3 maybe formed integrally with the bars I2 b y a simple stamping operation, or. the said` points may be made of wire and spot-welded or otherwise's'e'- cured to the bars I2. i

In actual practice, the bars I 2 will be made of a length to conform to the dimensions'of the seat. There are not very manydifferent sizes of chair seats, so that it will not be necessary Ito make the bars in many different sizes.

It is also possible to make the bars I2 of a standard size and simply trim them to nt the particular seat in conjunction with which they are to be used.

In use, the bars I2 are employed in pairs,` the members of one pair being located, respectively, at the front and back .edges of the seat; and the members "of the 'other vpair being'locatedalong the side edges.

According to my invention, it is contemplated that the pairs of fabric-securing bars shall be drawn together, more or less rmly, so as to draw the fabric across the seat surface to the desired degree of tautness.

To accomplish this, I provide the bars I2 with connecting arms I4 and I5. As will be seen from an examination of Fig. 1, the arms I4 are shorter than the arms I5, for a purpose presently to be described.

The arms I4 and I5 are secured to the bars I 2 by means of suitable pivots I6, which may be in the form of rivets loosely set so as to provide for pivotal movement between the bars I2 and the arms I4 and I5.

This pivotal arrangement is provided so that when the devices are packaged for sale, the bars and arms may be collapsed so as to lie one upon the other. Also, this pivotal arrangement provides lfor a more uniform distribution of tension when the devices are in place. Each of the arms I4 and I 5 is provided with a series of openings I'I for the insertion of the ends of suitable coiled springs I8.

The springs I8 serve to draw the oppositely disposedbars I2 together, and by such movementv the fabric-penetrating'points `I3 will pierce the fabric, thereby stretching the same over the seat.

The arms I4 and I5 are provided with a plurality of such openings I'I so as to provide for adjustment of the springs I3 to any desired or suitable degree of tension.

The spring-.receiving openings I1 may be in the form ofrsimple holes punched in the arms I4 and I5, or they may be punched out as shown in detail in Fig. 4 so as to leave a centrally disposed bar of metal around which the ends of the springs I8 maybe hooked.

It will be understood by reference to Fig. 1 that twosets of bars I2 are used for one seat. One of thesets of bars is for the front and rear edge of the seat, and the other set of bars is for the side edges. It will be seen, also, that the arms I4 and I 5 are vof .di'erent lengths so that the springs will not cross each other or over-lie one another, as would be the case if said arms were made of equal length.

It will also be understood that when re-covering a seat by the use vof my devices, the housewife or workman will fold the covering material at the corners to form a so-called mitre joint. -It is desirable to have at least one of the sets of arms I2 long enough to over-lie the mitre iold of the fabric so as to retain it in place.

In Fig. 5, I have shown a modification of the means for drawing the bars I2 together. In this modication, the arms I4 and I5 are provided with upwardly bent lugs or ears I8, to which may be secured, in any suitable way, threaded washers I9. The lugs or ears I8 are provided with holes registering with the holes in the washers I9x` andA they may also be threaded. Any suitable toggle screw 2U, having an operating nut 2|, may be turned into the threaded openings in the lugs I8 and washers IS. As is well understood, turning Ythe nut ZI' in one direction will serve to draw the arms I4 and I5 together, whereas turning the nutin the opposite direction will serve to separate the arms.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that ment. it'is no longer necessary to remove large quantities of tacks or upholsterers nails in order 4 to re-cover a chair seat, nor is it necessary to nail down the new covering material with large quantities of such tacks or nails.

By my arrangement, the new covering material is simply bent or wrapped around the outer edges of the chair seat, the fabric being folded over at the corners into a so-called mitre joint. Thereupon, a bar I2 is placed in position adjacent opposite edges, and by slight pressure, the fabricpenetrating points or teeth I3 are embedded in the fabric. Then a spring I8 is connected to the arms I4 and I5 by inserting the ends of said spring in the openings I1. This will provide the desired degree of tension so that the fabric is drawn tautly over the edges of the seat. A similar operation is performed by placing bars I2 along the other pair of opposite edges of the chair seat,.and these bars are in turn connected by a spring I8.

It will thus be seen that the operation of recovering a chair seat can be carried out very simply and very quickly. It is evident, also, that a seat covering may be removed from a seat just as quickly and as simply. All that is necessary is to unhook the springs I8 and move the bars VI2 outwardly so that the .fabric-penetrating points or teeth I3 are disengaged from thecover. This can readily be done by the ordinary housewife, without the use of tools of'anysort, which is a great advantage. By my arrangement, the housewife may change therseat covers of dining room chairs, for example, as often as sher desires, whether it be because the covers have Vbecome soiled or because she wants to change the color scheme of the diningroom.

I claim as my invention:

l. Means for stretching and securing covers for chair seats comprising, a pair of bars adapted to be placed adjacent opposite marginal edges of the seat, fabric-penetrating points on said bars, said points on opposite bars vextending towards each other, an arm extending from each of said bars, and tension-applying means interconnecting said arms for drawing said bars together and for drawing said fabric penetratingpoints into the fabric.

2. Means for stretching and securing covers for chair seats comprising, a pair of fabric-engaging bars adapted to be placed adjacent opposite marginal edges of the seat, an arm extending from each of said bars, said arms being of unequal length, and tension-applying means interconnecting said arms, said last-mentioned means lying ofi-center with respect tosaid seat because of the unequal length ofvsaid arms.

3. Means for stretching and securing covers for chair seats comprising, two pairs of fabricengaging members, each member-being adapted to be placed adjacent a marginal edge of the seat, an arm connected to each of said members, the arms on oppositely disposed members eX- tending toward each other, and tension-applying means interconnecting said arms in pairs, whereby to draw said fabric-engaging members ltoward each other, the arms of each pair being of unequal length, whereby said tension-applying-means do not cross each other at the center of the seat.

4. A unit of a fabric stretching and securing device comprising a bar provided with fabric-penetrating points, a tensioning bar provided with means for securing a tensioning device, and I means pivotally interconnecting said bars wherebyv for packaging or for storage said bars may be moved to position overlying each other.

5. The combination in a device for stretching and securing covers for chair seats of, a pair of bars adapted to be placed. adjacent opposite marginal edges of the seat, said bars having means interlocking with thefedge portions of the cover beneath the seat, a pair of arms each attached to a separate one off-,said bars and extending toward each other in alignment from the opposite bars, and a springfvextending between and connecting said arms, said arms being provided with a plurality of openings spaced different distances apart for vreceiving parts attached to the ends of said spring whereby the tension of said spring may be varied by connecting it to said arms in different spaced openings.

RUTH M. VAN DOREN.

REFERENCES CITED Thev following references are of record in the le off this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

